Machine for wrapping cigar fillers or the like



Aug. 19, 1969, J. 'MIELKE ET L 6 MACHINE FOR WRAPPING CIGAR FILLERS OR THE LIKE Fil ed Nov. 25, 1966 a co (co INVENTOR, Ja/rann 1 N15 l k5 Ru lo/f aims:

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United States Patent US. Cl. 131-59 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A cigar wrapping machine wherein successive cigar fillers are fed lengthwise and are simultaneously rotated about their axes. The wrapper is fed obliquely from one side of the path for the fillers and is convoluted in a spiral around successive fillers to there-by exert upon the fillers a pull which tends to displace the fillers to the one side of the path. A roller-shaped barrier is provided to hold the fillers against such sidewise displacement.

The present invention relates to a machine for wrapping cigar fillers or the like. More particularly, the invention relates to a machine which may be utilized to apply to cigar fillers or similar rod-shaped articles outer envelopes in the form of helically convoluted strips or tapes.

A machine for wrapping cigar fillers or bunches is disclosed, for example, in British Patent No. 856,082. The bunches are moved lengthwise and are caused to rotate about their axes. Such rotation is utilized to wrap the fillers into a strip of wrapper material which is fed obliquely to the path of fillers. Serious problems arise if the forward speed of the wrapper strip is not identical with the peripheral speed of the fillers, a condition which is practically impossible to achieve. If the feed of the wrapper strip is too slow, the strip exerts a pull and causes the fillers to become misaligned or to actually leave their path. If the rate of strip feed is too fast, the outer envelope of the ultimate product exhibits wrinkles and is likely to leak.

Accordingly, it is an important object of our present invention to provide an improved machine for applying wrappers to cigar fillers or like rod-shaped articles and to construct and assemble the machine in such a way that the wrappers can be applied without wrinkling and cannot cause the articles to become misaligned or to leave their path.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine which is particularly suited for applying outer envelopes to cigar fillers and which can be utilized in connection with difierent types of fillers and/or with different types of wrapper material.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine which is constructed and assembled for=the express purpose of tensioning a continuous wrapper strip to thereby insure smooth winding of the strip around a series of successive rod-shaped articles, and to further provide the machine with a very simple device which can counteract the tendency of the wrapper to displace the rod-shaped articles from their path.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a very simple conveyor system for rod-shaped articles which can be utilized in an apparatus of the above outlined character.

Briefly stated, one feature of our present invention resides in the provision of a machine for winding a wrapper around rod-shaped articles, particularly around 3,461,881 Patented Aug. 19, 1969 "Ice cigar fillers. Basically, the machine comprises conveyor means for advancing a succession of aligned rod-shaped articles lengthwise :along a predetermined path and for simultaneously rotating the articles, a feed for supplying the wrapper obliquely from one side of the path and into the range of the conveyor means so that the wrapper is convoluted around the articles in a spiral and exerts a pull tending to displace such articles to the one side of the path, and a barrier provided at the one side of the path to hold the articles against such displacement. The barrier may be constituted'by an idler roll which extends along the path of the articles and is rotated by the articles with negligible friction.

The conveyor means preferably includes first conveyor means for moving the articles lengthwise and second conveyor means for rotating or rolling the articles about their own axes. In accordance with a presently preferred embodiment of our invention, the second conveyor means comprises two endless belts having article-engaging stringers which cross each other in space and are disposed at the opposite sides of the path. Such stringers can roll the articles and simultaneously advance the articles lengthwise. If the wrapper is a strip of interconnected natural tobacco leaves or a continuous tobacco foil, it can be fed onto one of the stringers and is preferably drawn against the one stringer by suction. The feed may include a braking device which subjects the strip to some tension, and such tension can cause displacement of articles toward the one side of their path. The aforementioned barrier opposes such displacement and insures that each of the properly wrapped articles moves past a severing station at which the convoluted wrapper is subdivided into desired lengths, depending on the length of articles and/or the desired length of ultimate products. Tensioning of the strip is advisable because a tensioned strip can be convoluted without wrinkling.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The improved machine itself, however, both as to its construction and its mode of operation, together with additional features and advantages thereof, will be best understood upon perusal of the following detailed description of a specific embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a somewhat schematic top plan view of a cigar filler wrapping machine which embodies our invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the machine as seen in the direction of arrow II in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of a feed for the wrapper.

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a machine for applying wrappers around successive cigar fillers W which are stored in a magazine 2 supported by a frame 1. This frame further supports a conveyor system including three distinct conveyors 3, 9, 10, respectively, comprising endless flexible elements 3a, 11 and 12. These flexible elements will be called belts for short, but it is equally within the purview of the present invention to utilize chains, sets of ropes or cords or analogous devices capable of imparting to fillers W movements in desired directions. The belt 3a has an upper stringer which is disposed in a horizontal plane and receives successive fillers W seriatim from the outlet of the magazine 2 to advance such fillers lengthwise and into and through a conical nozzle 4 mounted on the frame 1. The numeral 5 denotes a wrapping or rolling station located downstream of the nozzle 4 and accommodating the conveyors 9 and 10. The conveyor 10 further serves as a means for drawing a continuous wrapper strip 18 and for transforming the strip into a spiral convoluted around successive fillers W to provide such fillers with an outer wrapper or envelope. Upon completion of the rolling operation, finished cigars Z advance through a second conical nozzle 7 and past a cutting or severing station which accommodates a revolving cutter blade 6 serving to sever the helically convoluted strip 18 and to thus separate the cigars from each other. In a manner well known from the art, the blade 6 can travel with the cigars Z and simultaneously severs the wrapper to be retracted to its starting position in good time to begin with the next severing operation. A takeoff conveyor 8 receives the cigars Z to advance them into storage, to a packaging machine or to another processing station, not shown. The conveyor 8 may comprise two endless cords which define between themselves a channel slightly narrower than the diameter of a cigar. Alternatively, the conveyor 8 may be an endless chain with pockets capable of accommodating the cigars which advance past the second nozzle 7.'

The conveyor 9 is disposed at a level above the conveyor 10 and comprises the aforementioned belt 11 which is trained around rollers 13. The belt 12 of the lower conveyor 10 is trained around rollers 14. The upper and lower stringers of the belts 11, 12 are respectively identified by numerals 11b, 12a and 11a, 12b. These stringers are disposed in horizontal planes and intersect each other in space. The stringers 11a, 12a are located at the opposite sides of the path of travel of the cigar fillers W and come into actual engagement with the fillers to cause their rotation and to thereby convolute the wrapper strip 18 therearound. The latter is fed obliquely to the path of cigar fillers W and onto the upper stringer 12a of the belt 12. The distance between the stringers 11a, 12a is slightly less than the diameter of a filler W and the angle alpha enclosed by the longitudinal directions of these stringers is preferably about 80 degrees. The arrows A and B, respectively, indicate the direction of travel of the belts 11 and 12. It will be noted that, when driven, the stringers 11a, 12a have components of movement in the direction indicated by arrow E, namely, in the direction of lengthwise movement of the fillers W. This is necessary in order to move the fillers lengthwise after the trailing ends of the fillers advance beyond the discharge end of the belt 3a. Each of the stringers 11a, 12a also has a component of movement in a direction at right angles to the arrow B. For the stringer 12a, such second component extends upwardly (as viewed in FIG. I) and the second component of movement of the stringer 11a extends downwardly. These second components cause the fillers W to rotate about their own axes. The direction of such rotation is indicated in FIG. 1 by arrow F.

The rollers 13, 14 of the conveyors 9, 10 are respectively mounted in brackets or supports 15, 16 which are installed on the frame 1. The drive for these rollers comprises a main shaft 17 which transmits motion through a suitable transmission, for example, a set of bevel gears shown in FIG. 1. Only one of the rollers 13, 14 must be driven. The lower stringer 11a of the belt 11 travels directly below a plate-like back support 21 which is afiixed to the bracket and prevents the stringer 11a from yielding on contact with the fillers W. The back support for the upper stringer 12a of the belt 12 is constituted by a fixed suction chamber 22. The belt 12 is foraminous (see the perforations 23 shown in FIG. 1) so that the suction chamber 22 can produce a pressure differential which causes the wrapper strip 18 to adhere to the upper side of the stringer 12a during travel toward the path of successive fillers W. The fan which draws air from the suction chamber 22 is not shown in the drawings.

The rollers 13 and 14 may but need not be cylindrical. In wrapping of fillers with conical ends, the rollers 13, 14 preferably resemble barrels (see FIG. 1).

The strip 18 may consist of artificially produced tobacco foil or it may consist of interconnected natural tobacco leaves. The feed for the strip 18 comprises an idler roll 33 which carries a supply 32 of convoluted strip stock and a brake including a shoe 34 mounted at one end of an arm 35 which is biased by a spring 36. The other end of the arm 35 is pivotable in brackets 38. The shoe 34 bears against the roll 33 to subject the strip 18 to at least some tension which is desirable to provide the fillers W with a taut wrapper free of folds and leaks. The strip 18 is actually drawn by the upper stringer 12a in that it is held against this stringer by suction produced in the chamber 22.

-The upper side of the strip 18 is provided with a coat of adhesive paste which is supplied from a paster including a tank 31 and an applicator 19 provided at the lower end of a supply tube 30 which receives paste from the tank 31. The applicator has orifices 37 which discharge paste directly onto the upper side of the wrapper strip 18. The applicator 19 is preferably disposed at a level somewhat below the upper stringer 12a so that it subjects successive increments of the strip to a further braking action just before such increments reach the upper stringer 12a and enter the suction zone above the chamber 22. The applicator 19 is preferably placed very close to the belt 12 so that the unsupported portion of the strip 18 is very short.

In accordance with a feature of our invention, the nozzles 44 and 7 carry supporting members in the form of lugs 24, 25 which support the ends of an elongated rollershaped barrier 26 freely rotatable about an axis which is parallel to the path of cigar fillers W. This barrier 26 is disposed between the stringers 11a, 1211 at the same side as the feed for the strip 18, and its purpose is to prevent such deflection of fillers which would be caused by tension in the strip 18.

If the strip 18 consist of discrete tobacco leaves, the upper stringer 12a can be extended rearwardly so that the leaves can be placed directly onto such rearward extension of this stringer. Alternatively, a further conveyor which feeds tobacco leaves onto the stringer can be placed immediately upstream of the conveyor 12 and a bridge is then provided between the two conveyors to transfer the leaves onto the stringer 12a. It is even possible to utilize the apparatus of the present invention, if the natural leaves are not connected to each other, i.e., if such leaves form a mat whose individual elements are not capable of transmitting to each other any tensional stresses. However, strips of interconnected tobacco leaves or of tobacco foil are preferred at this time, especially in mass-production of cigars.

The operation is as follows:

The magazine 2 discharges fillers W at predetermined intervals, and such filler then advance with the upper stringer of the belt 3a. Each filler W already comprises a wrapper but this wrapper will be concealed by the outer envelope to be obtained in response to winding of the strip 18. In order to make sure that the fillers will be advanced at predetermined regular intervals, the apparatus preferably comprises a suitable gate of known design. In the illustrated embodiment, the gate is controlled by a photoelectric detector 20 which i adjacent to the front end of the belt 3a and allows the gate to open when the trailing end of the preceding filler W has advanced therebeyond. The belt 3a advances successive fillers through the nozzle 4 and into the gap between the travelling stringers 11a, 12a. The path of such fillers intersects the point K where the central symmetry planes of the belts 11, 12 intersect each other. The stringers 11a, 12a engage the fillers and cause them to move lengthwise (arrow B) as well as to rotate (arrow F). The lower stringer 12a draws the strip 18 toward the point K and the strip is simultaneously braked in response to engagement of the shoe 34 with the roller 33 as well as in response to engagement between successive increments of the strip with the underside of the applicator 19. The braking action is preferably so strong that the stringer 12a slips with reference to the strip 18. The distance between the stringers 11a, 12a is selected in such a way that the fillers W rotate practically without any slippage with reference to the belts 11, 12. However, and since the strip 18 slips with reference to the stringer 12a, it must unwind itself from the supply 32 in response to tensioning of that strip length which extends between the right-hand roller 14 and the roll 33. This insures that the convolutions of the helically wound strip 18 are free of wrinkles, i.e., that the outer envelope of each successive cigar Z is of eye-pleasing appearance and free of leaks. The pull which is exerted by the strip 18 against successive fillers W is counteracted by the barrier 26 which insures that the fillers cannot be displaced from their path and move straight toward the second nozzle 7. The thus wrapped fillers W form a continuous rod which is subdivided by the blade 6 to yield a succession of discrete cigars Z of unit length or multiple unit length. The blade 6 need not sever the fillers, only the convoluted wrapper strip 18. As stated before, the blade 6 will sever while travelling with the fillers (arrow B) and returns to starting position in good time to begin with the next severing operation.

The orifices 37 of the applicator 19 provide the upper side of the strip 18 with a coat of adhesive paste which causes successive spirals of the wrapper to adhere to each other and to the wrappers of fillers W so that the outer envelope is free of leaks and cannot unwind itself from the filler. Convolution of the strip 18 is caused by the stringers 11a, 1211 which travel in directions indicated by arrows A and B.

Each of the fillers W may be of unit length or multiple unit length.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readil adapt it for various applications without omitting features which fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic and specific aspects of our contribution to the art.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is:

1. A machine for winding a wrapper around rodshaped articles, particularly around cigar fillers, comprising conveyor means for advancing a succession of rodshaped articles lengthwise along a predetermined article path and for simultaneously rotating the articles; feed means for supplying an elongated wrapper lengthwise along a wrapper path extending on one side of said article path and directed obliquely towards the same so that the wrapper is fed from said one side of said article path at an oblique angle and convoluted in a spiral around the article, exerting thereon a pull tending to displace said articles in direction of said wrapper path to said one side of said article path; and barrier means arranged adjacent and transverse to said wrapper path at said one side of said article path extending along the same so as to hold the articles against displacement while said wrapper is being wrapped around the same.

2. A machine as defined in claim 1, wherein said conveyor means comprises first conveyor means for advancing the articles lengthwise and second conveyor means including two endless belts having article-engaging stringers crossing each other in space and disposed at the opposite sides of said path, said feed being arranged to supply a continuous wrapper strip between one of said stringers and the articles in said path.

3. A machine as defined in claim 2, wherein each of said stringers has a component of movement in the direction of lengthwise movement of the articles.

4. A machine as defined in claim 2, wherein said one stringer is disposed in a substantially horizontal plane at a level below said path.

5. A machine as defined in claim 4, wherein the other stringer is disposed in a substantially horizontal plane at a level above said path.

6. A machine as defined in claim 2, wherein said barrier means is disposed between said stringers.

7. A machine as defined in claim 1, wherein said barrier means is an idler roll rotatable about an axis which is substantially parallel with said path.

8. A machine as defined in claim 1, wherein said conveyor means comprises an endless belt having a stringer extending obliquely of said path and receiving from said feed a strip-shaped wrapper, and further comprising a back support adjacent to said stringer opposite said path.

9. A machine as defined in claim 8, wherein said belt consists of foraminous material and said back support comprises a suction chamber arranged to hold the wrapper against said stringer.

10. A machine as defined in claim 9, further compris- 1ng braking means for tensioning the wrapper upstream of said stringer.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 545,805 9/1895 Maxficld 131-59 587,824 8/1897 Hudson 13160 X 3,165,106 l/1965 Schon 131-20 3,225,773 12/ 1965 Gustavson- 131-20 3,374,796 3/1968 Galliker 131-59 FOREIGN PATENTS 856,082 12/ 1960 Great Britain.

1,197,366 7/1965 Germany.

HUGH R. CHAMBLEE, Primary Examiner 

